Withdrawing from your course - financial implications

Important: Withdrawing from your course may affect your eligibility for future tuition fee support if you are a 'home' or EU student. If you consider withdrawing from your course or suspending your studies at any point, you should contact your Local Education Authority (LA), Student Finance England/Wales/NI or SASS to find out about funding implications for future study.

Academic regulations

Students who are considering withdrawing from their course are advised to discuss their situation with their personal tutor who will be able to offer advice regarding alternative options. If you decide to withdraw it is vitally important you complete the correct form which is available from your Student Administration Team (Single Honours undergraduate or postgraduate) or the Framework Office (Joint Honours). You should not delay notifying the SAT of your intention to withdraw as your fees will be calculated at the relevant date based on the fee reduction tables below.

Relevant date for calculating of tuition fees

The relevant date for calculating tuition fees following withdrawal is deemed to be the date on which the SAT receives your Notification of intention to withdraw form even if you stopped attending at an earlier date. As the student, you are responsible for issuing prompt, written notification of your intention to withdraw to the SAT. Any delay in doing so may affect the level of fees charged.

Fee reduction will not be considered for students who leave their course without giving written notification to the SAT. Retrospective notification of withdrawal will not qualify for a fee reduction.

Please refer to the appropriate table below for the calculation rules should you decide to withdraw.

Home and EU students

Table 1 - Full-time undergraduate programmes - home and EU students 2011/12

Date of withdrawal	Fees due	University of Northampton bursary (or NAB) BA/BSc - paying fees of £3375
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT before 1 December 2011.	No fees due. Invoice to be cancelled.	You will not be entitled to the University of Northampton bursary or NAB as you will not meet the criteria if your fee is nil.
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT between 1 December 2011 and 1 March 2012.	50% of annual fee due (50% reduction)	You will not be entitled to the University of Northampton bursary as you will not meet the criteria if your fees are below £3375.
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT after 1 March 2012.	Full fee due. No reduction in fees.	You will be entitled to the University of Northampton bursary provided you meet all the criteria.

If you have paid your own fees prior to withdrawing and the amount paid exceeds the recalculated fee, you may be entitled to a refund. Please note an administration charge will be applied.

If you have taken out a tuition fee loan with the Student Loans Company (SLC) any reduction in fees will be notified directly to the SLC who should reduce your tuition fee loan by the amount of the reduction.

Table 2 - Part-time undergraduate programmes - home, EU students & part-time international students

Date of withdrawal	Fees to be charged
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT by 31 October 2011	No fees due
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT between 1 November 2011 and 13 January 2012	One third of annual fee payable. (Invoiced fee reduced by two thirds).
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT between 16 January 2012 and 1 March 2012.	Two thirds of annual fee payable. (Invoiced fee reduced by one third).
Withdrawal Notification form is received by the SAT after 1 March 2012.	Full fee due. No reduction in fees.

Table 3 - Full-time and part-time postgraduate programmes - home and EU students only

Date of withdrawal	Fees to be charged
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT by 31 October 2011 (or by 15 February 2012 for January starters).	No fee due.
Withdrawal Notification form received by the SAT after 31 October 2011 (or after 15 February 2012 for January starters).	Full fee due for all modules included in the semester programme up to the date of withdrawal.

If you are paying your fees by instalments, it is important to inform the Income section in the Finance Department on telephone number 01604 892236 of your withdrawal so that your payment plan may be recalculated to reflect the amount due up to the official withdrawal date. If there is any shortfall between the amount due and the amount paid you will be liable to pay the difference.

Restarting a course or take up of a different course

Withdrawn students who restart their course (or a different course) at a later date will be charged the full annual tuition fee for the restart year.

Repeating a year or a module

Repeat years of study will be charged at the full tuition fee rate.

Repeat modules will normally be charged at the standard tuition fee rate.

If you made a claim for mitigating circumstances to be considered and this is upheld by the panel you may be eligible for reduced fees but only if the modules in question were previously paid for in full. If the module fee was reduced or cancelled in a previous year, you will not be entitled to receive a reduction for the repeat module(s) even if mitigating circumstances have been upheld.

Information contained in this document relates to 'home' and EU full-time and part-time students and to part-time international students.

Full-time international students

Due to visa regulations, international students on a full-time student visa have different rules relating to leaving university. Please contact the International Office for more information before withdrawing from your course.